In support of the Lee County Port Authority’s (LCPA) desire to relocate the airport traffic control tower (ATCT) and Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), Pond provided facility assessment services at the existing facilities at Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers.

Pond provided full design services for the construction of the new $24 million ATCT and TRACON facility at RSW. This included architectural, structural, civil, mechanical, electrical, communications and fire protection engineering. The ATCT will be approximately 205 feet above grade and will have an associated 15,500-square-foot TRACON. The structure of the ATCT and TRACON was designed to resist the prescribed blast load at the required stand-off distance from the facility.

For the electrical scope, Pond engineers realigned the control tower communication circuits and airfield lighting circuits and communication circuits to the new tower location. The new ATCT and TRACON are being constructed adjacent to the existing, recently constructed Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting facility. After the new ATCT and TRACON are constructed, an approved 16-month switch-over period (or commissioning) will take place.

To provide the new facility with communications, an airfield cabling package will be provided that will illustrate how the new ATCT cabling will splice into the existing airport loop feeding the current ATCT.